Surprises
by nowicanseethemoon
Summary: Life is full of surprises and Annie and Ryan are about to see how true that can be.
1. Chapter 1

**SURPRISES**

Chapter 1

Life is full of surprises - or so they say. Whoever the heck "they" are. Annie stood at the window of one of the nicest private hospital rooms DC had to offer and watched the sun come up over the city. The last week had been some of the best and the worst she could remember, and when you're a covert operative for the CIA, you see a lot of bad. So far this week, she'd gotten suspended from the CIA, she'd spent one whole night sitting up talking and laughing with Ryan, and had finally kissed him. And no sooner had she started to believe that Ryan wasn't full of shit when he said that you really could have it all, then she'd thought he'd lied and betrayed her. That damned dog walker had started her down a horrible path of lying, betrayal, and doubting her own instincts. She'd resigned from the CIA, taken a job with Ryan's company, McQuaid Security, hacked his computer, found a secret bunker used to plan a terrorist attack, and accused McQuaid of the bombing that had killed 12 CIA operatives in a secret facility in Chicago.

Despite all of that, he'd come to her for help. When every agency in DC had been looking for him, he'd come to her and asked her to believe in him. She'd faltered. She'd let her head rule her gut. Her gut had been screaming at her that Ryan couldn't have done all the things she'd accused him of, but her head was fighting a battle of logic. Look at what the evidence showed. Every single piece pointed to Ryan being the guilty one, but damned if her gut hadn't told her she'd been wrong.

She knew ... just knew ... that Ryan McQuaid was a patriot. He was an ex-Navy Seal and had built his own private military company on brains, guts, skill, and honor, damn it. He had more honor than anyone she'd ever met. He wasn't the kind of guy who would kill fellow patriots by implanting an IED into a terrorist and blowing up a building. And she was pissed at herself for thinking for even one moment that he might have been capable of that. She'd finally wised up and listened to her gut, and she'd been there to help Ryan figure out that his second in command, Caitlyn Cook, was the real traitor. She'd been working with that bastard Aleksandre Belenko, who had been kind enough to shoot her in the head before he flew back to Georgia under the guise of diplomatic immunity. And worst of all, before Caitlyn had gotten herself killed, she'd shot Ryan and left him to bleed out in a hotel bathroom. All in all, a whole lot of bad. Annie shook her head at that ridiculous understatement. A whole lot of bad, indeed.

Annie moved away from the window, back to the yellow leather chair she'd pulled next to Ryan's bed. She'd been sitting in that chair, holding Ryan's hand for the last three days. It had been three long days since she'd rushed to the hospital after Arthur had told her Ryan was shot. Three days since she'd paced the waiting room waiting to hear if he was going to make it out of surgery. Waiting to hear how bad it was. She sat back down in the chair and automatically reached to interlace her fingers with Ryan's. As she thought back over the events of the week, it was obvious that the good that had happened was big enough to eclipse all of the bad. Ryan had made it through surgery, and the doctors were optimistic that he would make a full recovery. The bullets had missed his heart. She hadn't been so lucky when she'd been shot. The problem was he hadn't woken up yet. The doctors assured her that it was normal for someone to be out this long after a significant trauma, but she was worried he wasn't going to come back to her. She understood, probably better than most, the choice you have to make - the choice to go or to stay. In that foggy state when you're kept alive by tubes and machines, you see the choice very clearly. You can choose to stay and fight to live, or to give up and let the pain fade away. To choose to see those you've lost or take a chance on what is yet to come. She hoped Ryan chose the future, rather than the past, but the longer he slept, the more she feared he'd made the other choice.

She and Ryan had made love. Right on the floor of his safe house. Some people would have called it sex, but it hadn't been sex for them. They had made love, and they both knew it. They'd had a connection from that first moment on the tarmac in Chicago - that first time their eyes met. Their connection had grown stronger in Venezuela, then Paris, and Azerbaijan. She'd fought it - had fought him, and he'd been a cocky brat - baiting her and giving her his best devil-may-care smiles. But along the way he'd become her friend and her confidant. He'd helped her when she'd needed it most, and made her smile and laugh along the way. He'd flirted and been a partner when she hadn't wanted one. Over the last few months, he'd worn down her feeble resistance. Ryan McQuaid got her - he understood what drove her, what scared her, and what her deepest, darkest desires were. She was more herself with him than with anyone she'd ever met, and he liked her anyway. He didn't treat her like she was fragile, or someone he needed to protect. He didn't see her as broken - emotionally or physically, even though she was both. His faith in her made her have just a little more in herself. He trusted her with his life, and she trusted him right back. They were equals. And now they were lovers. Which was pretty awesome - a great big check in the "good" column, except her lover was lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to machines, fighting for his life.

If Annie were honest with herself, she could admit that she didn't have the best of luck in the love department. Being a spy was inherently dangerous, but it seemed that everyone she'd ever fallen for had died ... violently. Sure, things happened, but it seemed like bad things happened to her more often than not. She and Auggie, her handler, had had a brief relationship that they'd mutually ended. It had hurt at the time, but they'd managed to stay friends. And he was alive. For that she was eternally grateful because she couldn't imagine her life without Auggie. He was her best friend. She loved him, but it had turned into a different kind of love - almost like siblings, but closer, deeper. They'd been through a lot together over the years, and he was one of the few constants in her life. She couldn't be as open and honest with him as she was with McQuaid, but that was because he worried about her - he wanted to protect her and keep her safe. She felt like she had to filter out the darkest parts of herself so she didn't worry Auggie. And when she'd been at the CIA, she hadn't wanted him to keep her out of the field. She'd needed him to believe she was good so she could work. She'd lied to him about McQuaid - lied about helping him, and Auggie was seriously pissed at her right now. She really didn't blame him, but she hoped she could fix things. Time would tell - it always did.

Annie studied Ryan's closed eyes and watched his chest move up and down with the help of the ventilator. He was so still, so quiet. She'd never seen him like this, and it scared her. She honestly didn't know if she could handle losing Ryan. Losing him would be the final blow for her. She almost hadn't been able to come back into the fold this time, and she was afraid that his loss would make the dark finally overtake her. If Ryan was gone, there would be no one who could help fight the dark, no one who could make her believe life was worth all that it cost. Auggie would try, but he couldn't truly understand. She was afraid she would just drift away and never come back. Or she would finish the mission, she would kill Alek and get justice for Ryan and then she would go away forever.

Annie laid her head on the bed, touching Ryan's side with the top of her head, and closed her eyes. She was starting to drift. She couldn't stay awake any longer, but she wasn't willing to leave like everyone told her she needed to. She was staying until he woke up. She knew he would do the same for her, and that's what being a partner, a lover, meant. You stayed - no matter what.

As Annie drifted off to sleep, she felt a light brush on her hair, like fingers playing with the ends. She smiled to herself. Ryan had liked to brush his hand over her hair, even when they'd been nothing more than partners. It was a casual gesture that she'd secretly liked. And then she felt it again. She opened her eyes and found herself staring into Ryan's gorgeous blue eyes. He was awake! His finger tips brushed her hair again before she jerked upright. Her eyes started to tear up - she was crying, but she didn't cry. She'd thought herself too empty to cry... too washed up and devoid of the sort of emotion necessary to feel enough to cry. But Ryan had once again proved her wrong. He'd shown her she had so much more to give. He lightly squeezed her hand. He was alive. Like her, he was too damned tough to give up.

"I'm here, Ryan." Annie leaned in to brush her lips over his cheek. "We got her. We got Caitlyn, and we stopped the bombing. You've been shot, but the doctors say you'll make a full recovery. No major organs were damaged. They got to you in time."

Ryan closed his eyes in what was obvious relief. "Sleep now. You need to sleep so you can heal. I'll be right here when you wake up again." Annie promised as she gently squeezed his hand back. Annie said to herself as she watched him drift back into a restful sleep ... sleep, not a coma ... what a difference that made, "I need you to heal so we can figure this out together. You need to be in on taking back what Caitlyn and Alek tried so hard to steal from you, but I'm going to be with you every step of the way."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ryan's first thought was how much he hurt. His eyes, arms, legs, even his teeth ... everything. He forced himself to push his eyes open and look around the room. In the dim lamp light he saw Annie's head rested on the bed next to him, her hand covering his. This time, her eyes were closed in sleep. He was very careful not to move because experience had shown him that she would be awake instantly. Every time he'd woken she'd been there. She was still wearing the same clothes she'd been in when she'd left his safe house to stop the bombing of the Beaudmont Hotel. He turned his head to look at the clock next to the bed - 2:42 a.m. He'd slept another almost 5 hours and felt much better now that they'd taken the tube out of his throat. When he'd woken up earlier, Annie had been awake. She had been sitting in the chair next to him reading a file and as soon as he'd opened his eyes she'd closed it. He'd have to ask her what she was working on, but he knew her well enough to know that it was likely related to what had happened in the last week - and it all ultimately tied back to Chicago.

Ryan still had a hard time believing Caitlyn had set him up to take the fall on the Chicago bombing, and had tried to frame him for the hotel bombing, after she'd sent a team to try to kill him. Ryan supposed that if he'd needed absolute proof, her shooting him was enough. When he'd confronted her, she'd shot him and walked out. And now Caitlyn was dead, he was in a hospital bed, and his company was in serious trouble. But Annie was here and that was amazing. He would be the first to admit that he'd been surprised when he'd opened his eyes after surgery and she'd been here. In hindsight, he shouldn't have been. He knew Annie was loyal and honorable, and he knew she'd thrown her lot in with him when he'd been accused of the Chicago bombing.

Ryan had been intrigued by Annie Walker before he'd even met her. He'd read her file, a file that reported her dead, and couldn't help but be impressed. She was a hell of an operative. After he'd met her that day in Chicago, he hadn't been able to get her out of his head. Fate had helped him out and had thrown them together over and over again. They'd sparred and butted heads in Venezuela, but had established a tentative professional relationship. He'd offered her a job on that mission, and she'd actually laughed in his face. Their next run in had been in Paris, accidentally that time. Their meeting at the Russian Embassy had given them another opportunity to build a little more trust and he'd been lucky enought to be able to save her from a trip to a Russian prison. And then there was Azerbaijan, which had been interesting, Ryan mused. There was nothing like almost getting blown up by your own government to bring two people closer together.

Since his wife's death, he really hadn't let himself become involved in a relationship. When you're a wealthy single man in Washington DC, you're a target for a lot of women, but none of them could possibly understand his life, and he wasn't willing to be used for his money. And honestly, he hadn't had time. He was too busy building McQuaid Security to make time for a personal life. Annie didn't seem to care about his money. Sure, she'd asked him for $100,000, but that had been for work. She liked that he had his own airplane and helicopter, but it was about getting the job done rather than flying in luxury. Annie seemed to understand his motivations and why he worked as hard as he did. They were similar that way - motivated by truth, justice, and patriotism. And loyalty. At the end of the day, she'd believed in him when all the evidence told her not to - and when he'd had no money.

Their tenuous relationship had seemed to blossom out of one of the worst things in his life - being framed for terrorism. They'd forged a bond and he was determined to nurture this relationship and make something real. Since Annie, he realized that he wanted a "someone" again. He and Kelly had had a good marriage, which wasn't easy when you were a Navy Seal. Her death had been the worst thing he'd every had to face, but he was a better man for having gone through that loss. And while he and Caitlyn hadn't been romantically involved, her betrayal and death were another loss he was going to have to come to terms with.

He fixed his eyes on Annie's face and studied her. He didn't often get the chance to observe her, especially when she was still. She seemed to always be moving or thinking. She was beautiful - fine features, long wavy blonde hair, a full and expressive mouth, and when her eyes were open, they were the color of rich cognac. But it was her strength and her personality that made her irresistible to him. She was tough - she could shoot a gun, not as well as he could, but she was still pretty decent, she could kick ass, and at the end of the day she'd sit down and enjoy a bourbon and talk about movies or art. She wasn't all about work unless that's what was needed.

Annie's eyes snapped open and locked with his. He held her gaze for a moment, neither speaking. Finally, she lifted her head and smiled at him, "Hi. You're awake again." Her voice was husky from sleep and lack of use.

"I woke up a few minutes ago, feeling better and very glad that the tube is out of my throat. I can't believe you're still here. How long has it been since you got any real sleep?"

Annie ran her fingers through her hair and twisted it into a messy bun at her nape. "Where else would I be? You're here. I couldn't leave until I knew for sure you were going to be ok." She looked down and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, "I couldn't handle it if something happened to you, Ryan."

Ryan turned his hand over under hers and linked their fingers. "I'm ok. Nothing else is going to happen to me," he smiled wryly. "I'm glad you're here. Knowing you would be here let me sleep without worrying. I just hate that you haven't gotten any sleep."

Annie smiled back at him, relieved to see some of his spark back in his eyes. "I've slept off and on. This chair is pretty comfortable. Do you want to talk about work or do you need some more rest?"

Ryan loved that she knew him well enough to know that he would be dying to know about work and what was happening with McQuaid Security. "If it's ok with you, can you fill me in on work for a few minutes?"

Annie nodded and smiled. "Arthur has been doing damage control. He's reached out to all of your government contacts and has assured them that you had nothing to do with the bombing in Chicago and that you are no longer under any suspicion from any agency. He's explained that you were injured trying to apprehend the real perpetrator and that you're expected to be back in the office next week." Annie turned to stare out the window into the night, "There are some who still blame you for Caitlyn's actions. They think you should have known what was going on. You'll likely lose those contracts. Arthur's estimating that you should only lose about $10 million in contracts though. He's had everyone working overtime to get thing in the office back in order after the CIA search, and said that by tomorrow things at McQuaid Security would be back to normal, minus you, of course."

Ryan couldn't help but be pleased that things were moving back towards normal. He was amazed that Arthur had managed to get almost everyone back on board - $10 million lost wasn't much considering how bad it could have been. "What have you been working on? Because I know you haven't been sitting here watching television for 4 days."

Annie leaned over to grab the file off the nightstand, "I've been reading up on Aleksandre Belenko and trying to find a connection between he and Caitlyn. So far, I haven't found it, but I think you'll be able to help me with that. Arthur has people tracking him in Georgia and trying to determine his next move. He said he'd be back in the morning with any new information the analysts have uncovered."

Ryan nodded and reached for her hand again. "It sounds like you and Arthur have things under control. Why don't we get some sleep so we can be fresh in the morning for Arthur's visit?" Annie could see that he was tired, he was still recovering from major surgery and she didn't want him to strain himself. She immediately agreed.

"That sounds like a great idea. I'll be here when you wake up."

Ryan smiled, "Why don't you lay down next to me and we can both get some decent sleep?"

"McQuaid! There isn't room on that hospital bed for both of us and you know it. I'm fine in the chair. Trust me, I've slept in a lot worse than this."

To shut her up, Ryan carefully shifted himself over to make a few more inches of room, "See, there's plenty of room now. You're skinny, you'll fit." When it became clear that she was going to continue to argue, he gently pulled her hand towards him, "Please Annie. I'll sleep better if you're sleeping too."

She finally gave in and figured she'd lay there carefully until he drifted off again and then she'd move back to her chair so he could rest undisturbed. She took her boots and jacket off and carefully laid next to him on her side. She made sure not to interfere with any of the wires that connected him to the machines gently beeping in the background. He laid his arm across his waist, he'd have rather put it around her, but his injuries wouldn't allow him to move it that much. "Thanks Annie. Let's just lay here in the dark and relax."

She reached out to turn the light off and lay her head next to his uninjured shoulder. She lay her hand over his where it rested on his waist. For some reason she still needed the connection of touching him. Maybe she just needed proof that he was actually there, living and breathing. "Goodnight Ryan," she whispered in the dark.

Ryan turned his head and touched his lips to her forehead, "Goodnight Annie. Thanks again for being here."

Ryan's breathing gradually slowed and she could tell he'd fallen asleep. She was just going to lay there for another minute and then she'd get up and move back to her chair. Annie fell asleep with her hand over Ryan's and her head resting against his shoulder, and her last thought before she drifted off was how nice it was to feel him next to her.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"For Christ sake McQuaid, sit your ass down on the couch." Annie folded her arms over her chest and glowered at Ryan as he attempted to do sit ups on the floor of the living room. He was sheet white and sweating like he'd just finished running 10 miles. "You've been out of the hospital for one freaking day and you're supposed to be resting, not pulling out stitches being stupid."

Ryan glared at Annie, but admitted to himself that the sit ups hadn't been his best idea. They hurt like hell and he was pretty sure his incision wasn't happy with all the crunching. He was going nuts sitting around doing nothing and since Annie had been watching him like a guard dog, he couldn't get away with anything. "Resting is a pain in the ass and I've had about all I can take. I need to be doing something, Walker. I can't handle being an invalid."

Annie sighed and couldn't help but understand where he was coming from. "If you'd stop being a jackass for one minute, I'd explain that Jim is on his way over with your laptop and some case files. Arthur and I thought you could get back to work from here and that might make you feel better. But if you're going to be an idiot, I'll handcuff you to your bed and leave you to be miserable."

Ryan rubbed his hand over his unshaved face and ran it up into his disheveled hair. He could admit to himself that he'd been sulking since he got home from the hospital. He'd wanted to go right back to work, but Annie hadn't let him. So he'd rebelled by moping around, and doing sit ups. Very mature, he thought to himself. "Ok, Walker, you're right. I'm being a jackass. Point made. Thanks for thinking of my need to work. I'm going to take a shower and shave before Jim gets here. Maybe that will make me feel human again."

Annie walked down the steps into Ryan's sunken living room and moved around the large black sectional to stand in front of him. She reached up to lay her hand on his chest, "Ryan, I care about you. I don't want you to over do it and end up back in the hospital. I know how hard it is to be weak and recovering, and how important it is to feel like you aren't an invalid. But take it from someone who knows, over doing it isn't the answer either. And remember, I have a personal interest in you getting better." She reached up and laid her lips gently on his. Ryan slid his hand to the nape of her neck and wound his fingers through her hair. The kiss was soft and gentle, but there was an edge of need under the surface. Before they could sink fully into the kiss and lose track of the present, Annie pulled back. "Go take a shower before Jim gets here. You'll feel better for it."

Ryan looked into her eyes and smiled, "Thanks Walker." Before he released her, he leaned in and gently kissed her on the forehead. He couldn't help but flash his signature cocky smile as he turned and walked down the hallway towards the master bedroom. She'd just given him something to look forward to, and he was determined to heal quickly because he wasn't willing to wait very long for a repeat of the night before he'd been shot.

"Ok, so tell me where we are on tracking down the connection between Caitlyn and Belenko," Ryan asked as he settled in his home office with his laptop, files, and Annie and Arthur. He'd taken that shower and felt invigorated - probably as much to do with Annie as the hot water, but he'd take it.

"I've spent the last week getting background on Aleksandre Belenko," Arthur began as he made himself comfortable on the sofa. "So far, I haven't outsourced information gathering to anyone else at McQuaid Security. Annie and I wanted to be the only ones in the loop until we know how far reaching Caitlyn's betrayal was. At this point we know she used some, or maybe all, the members of Flint. That's something you're going to have to focus on, given the clandestine nature of that work. Until we're sure no one else at McQuaid was working with Caitlyn, we don't want to take any chances."

Ryan's jaw flexed as he clenched his teeth, "I will make it a top priority to vet everyone on my payroll, legitimately or off-book, and figure out how far this breach went. I can start that now. What have you uncovered so far on Belenko?"

Arthur leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, "On the surface he looks like a typical diplomat. He got his college education at Princeton and went into diplomatic service upon graduation. He has a carefully crafted public biography that hides some interesting tidbits. After some digging and tapping some of my contacts, I found out that his father was a South Ossetia supporter and instrumental in the separatist movement after the fall of the Soviet Union. It is my belief that Belenko has the same political views and that his interests lie with Russia more than with Georgia. He managed to camouflage his connection to South Ossetia by taking his maternal grandmother's maiden name. As for his end-goal, I'm still working on that." Arthur finished and leaned back against the sofa cushions.

Annie moved from in front of the window to rest her hip on the corner of Ryan's desk. "The CIA believes the target of the bombing was the Russian Defense Attache, who was in the bombed car. However, knowing what we now know, Arthur and I aren't sure that's accurate. Russia has been supportive of South Ossetian's independence efforts, and have actually recognized their independence from Georgia. There's also rumor that the Russian's weren't happy with their defense attache, so they might not have had much heartburn over him being collateral damage in a bombing. We actually think the target may have been the CEO of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Company. Russia has been vocally opposed to the pipeline from the beginning because they don't want to lose their control of oil in the region. He was invited to the treaty signing by our favorite diplomat, Aleksandre Belenko, and was put in Arthur's car by Caitlyn. It seems to fit."

"Do we know yet how Caitlyn ties into all of this? How did she become involved with Belenko?" Ryan thought everything they had laid out made sense, but there was a huge piece missing and that was Caitlyn's role.

Annie pulled a fine gold necklace encased in a small plastic baggie out of the file folder on Ryan's desk. "I took this off Caitlyn's body before the police got to her. I believe this is the key to figuring out her connection, but I'm hoping you can provide some input. Have you ever seen her wear it before?"

Ryan took the baggie and examined the necklace. "I don't think so, although I can't say I was overly observant of Caitlyn's wardrobe. It looks old."

Arthur nodded, "I had a source examine it. It appears to be 24 karat gold and from around the turn of the century. You don't see that high a karat in modern jewelry, and it was quite common in Russian and eastern European jewelry of that time. The jeweler speculated that it was a family heirloom and he's researching the maker's mark, but it's really worn, given the softness of the metal. We'll keep working on it, but so far we don't have much."

"Has anyone looked at her emails?" Ryan asked.

"We need a tech op to help us with that. We have access to her work emails and I don't think anyone is surprised that there was nothing there, but I don't have the skills to comb her computers and try to find any other accounts or encrypted files." Annie explained, wishing that she could ask Auggie for help with this, but they hadn't spoken since before McQuaid had been shot. She needed to make time to patch things up with him. Even if they were back on even ground, she didn't think Ryan would be ok going outside McQuaid Security personnel on this one, especially after what the CIA had been willing to believe about him.

"Let's get Fritz over here. I trust him and he's the best tech op we have. Damn good field operative too, but his first love is computers. Have him bring Caitlyn's computers, and we need to make sure we have her phone and other devices too. I'd like to keep this compartmentalized for now. The fewer people who know what we're working on, the less chance of a leak. But I want to know by the end of the week what her connection is to Belenko. Once we have that nailed down, we're going to need a plan on where we go from here and how we nail that asshole to the wall for this." Ryan's fury and sense of betrayal was palatable.

"We'll get him, Ryan. Make no mistake on that." Annie promised as she reached out to brush her fingers over his hand. "I promise you, we'll get him for this."

* * *

><p><em>I had a really hard time with this chapter. I had to do a lot of research on Georgia, which really gave me a headache. I've done my best to be accurate with the politics, but please excuse me if there are errors, or if I've misstated something in my ignorance. Thanks for reading and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the story so far and ideas for where it needs to go.<em>


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